Manager

The manager uses mobile-friendly websites as key communications tools to further the organization’s strategic goals. They ensure time and resources to support websites are available. Their knowledge of organizational priorities and other relevant information guide development of an effective departmental web presence.

According to the Pew Internet report, “Cell Phone Activities 2012,” American adults use their devices for much more than phone calls. In addition to snapping photos and sending texts, more than half of cell phone owners (56 percent) access the Internet through their phones. In the college parent age groups, 69 percent of 30 – 49 year olds and 40 percent of 50 – 64 year olds are mobile web users.

Texas A&M Information Technology recently redesigned Security.tamu.edu thinking mobile first. Our team worked to streamline and reorganize the content to improve readability. The site is divided into articles on big topics like identity theft or protecting confidential information. Each article has an introduction paragraph and sections with clear headings to make the content easy to scan. On mobile devices, the body content is converted into an accordion, which keeps scrolling to a minimum and allows readers to select the topics most relevant to them.

Mobile-friendly university websites are no longer optional
According to the 2012 Noel-Levitz E-Expectations Report, “Online Expectations of College Bound Juniors and Seniors,” 52 percent of college-bound high school juniors and seniors viewed college sites on a mobile device, up from 23 percent in 2010. Twenty percent viewed college sites via tablets. These numbers will continue to increase, since mobile device ownership is almost ubiquitous in this age group (see Pew Internet Project).

Join the Texas A&M Mobile Team for an on-campus presentation, “Best of both worlds: How to think like a designer, work like a developer.” Gain insights from two designers with different backgrounds and approaches who embraced mobile-first design. Learn how the design process fits into the new responsive website paradigm.

If it doesn’t work on mobile, it doesn’t work. Most of our work averages 10 to 20 percent mobile traffic. But for our elections app, 50 percent of users visited our Big Board on their phone. (And it wasn’t even responsive!) Moral of the stats: A good mobile experience is absolutely necessary.